Douluo: When Tang Wulin Met Little Huo Niang

Chapter 508: Master Craftsman Zhenhua (5k)

After finishing his breakfast, Tang Wulin set off for the Blacksmith Association.

He did not go in his real appearance, but disguised himself into a less conspicuous image.

After all, he is really famous now, and his real appearance is the type that can be recognized at a glance in a crowd. If he rashly goes to the Blacksmith Association without disguise, he will probably be surrounded by passers-by, which is very troublesome.

The Blacksmith Association of Tiandou City is basically the largest in the world. There are people coming and going here, and countless blacksmiths who look very strong are queuing in the lobby on the first floor waiting to receive forging tasks.

Tang Wulin did not stay in the hall for too long. As soon as he entered the gate of the Tiandou City Blacksmith Association, he walked towards the rest area.

As expected, he met the Amorous Douluo Zang Xin here.

He sat down on the sofa opposite Zang Xin, greeted him and asked:
"Good morning, Senior Duoqing, where is Senior Zhenhua?"

"?"

Zang Xin was stunned for a moment, then he reacted and said in surprise:

"It's you, kid. Your disguise skills are quite powerful. I couldn't see through it at first glance. Also, don't call me Senior Duoqing. You are much older than me now, right? After confirming Yutong's identity, I always feel something is wrong when you call me Senior again."

Of course, there is another reason besides this, which is that he himself does not like his own title.

The Amorous Douluo always seems to be very promiscuous, but in fact, only two people in the world know what his true situation is.

It was that other person who gave him the title of Duoqing. Zang Xin was not sure what the other person was thinking. Anyway, he actually had a certain aversion to this title.

Tang Wulin said helplessly:

"Okay, but what should I call you?"

"Just call me by my name."

Zang Xin stretched, stood up and said:

"Come on, I'll take you to see the best blacksmith in the world."

"it is good."

Tang Wulin suddenly became excited.

Although he has actually surpassed the master craftsman Zhenhua in terms of strength and influence, he is still no match for Zhenhua in the field of forging.

For a blacksmith who has been stuck at level five for about five years, the guidance of the master craftsman is undoubtedly of great significance. It is very likely that Zhenhua's words can make him realize something and save him from many years of detours.

The two walked up the stairs and headed towards the top floor of the Blacksmith Guild.

As expected of one of the largest blacksmith associations in the world, every floor was filled with blacksmiths.

Only after reaching the top floor did the environment suddenly become quiet.

Zang Xin explained:
"This is the floor where forgers above level seven live. Every forger living here has his own forging room, and the sound insulation is very good."

As he spoke, he brought Tang Wulin to the door of the innermost room and knocked.

"Brother Zhenhua, I brought the person here."

With a "beep", the red light on the combination lock on the door turned green.

Zang Xin smiled at Tang Wulin, signaled him with his eyes to get ready, and then opened the door.

The environment inside the room was very clean and tidy. A man was sitting quietly in front of the forging table, seemingly thinking about something.

He was a middle-aged man with black hair and black eyes, and was very handsome.

He looked to be only in his thirties, but his eyes were full of vicissitudes and depth, which was not possible for a man of this age. His temples were completely white, forming a sharp contrast with the black hair on his head.

The most eye-catching thing is his hands, which are at least 50% larger than those of ordinary people, but without protruding joints. They are white and slender, like a pair of women's hands magnified several times. Even the skin on his palms is crystal clear, like jade.

This person is the master craftsman Zhenhua, who is also the strongest person in the entire Blacksmith Association and a Titled Douluo-level existence.

In fact, he is not as young as he looks. He is already about 45 years old. He became a master craftsman at the age of 37, and it has been eight years now, which is the best time for a blacksmith.

He became famous at a young age, but he was not arrogant. He worked hard and started as the president of the Blacksmith Association in a small city. He worked his way to the top step by step and eventually became the president of the Blacksmith Association. He is also the only master craftsman on the continent.

Before he appeared, in order to make a four-character battle armor, it would require the joint efforts of several Saint-level blacksmiths, and with the full assistance of a Titled Douluo, it would take an unknown amount of effort to barely complete it. However, that kind of four-character battle armor did not really exist, it could only be said to be half a step to four characters.

It was not until eight years ago when he finally completed the Heavenly Forging and became a master craftsman that the Four-Character Battle Armor could truly be called the Four-Character Battle Armor.

In the past eight years, the four-character battle armor made by him has begun to be passed down to the world. It can be said that he has a pivotal position in the entire continent and has countless halos of his own.

If Tang Wulin was just an ordinary level five blacksmith, he certainly would not be qualified to meet him alone, but fortunately he was not.

Both his identity and his strength are enough to make Zhenhua pay great attention to him.

Seeing Tang Wulin and Zang Xin coming in, Zhenhua quickly stood up, glanced at Tang Wulin, and smiled at Zang Xin:

"Is this the recently famous Tang Wulin?"

"Ah."

Zang Xin nodded and said to Tang Wulin:
"Wulin, take off your disguise."

"it is good."

Tang Wulin patted his body a few times and returned to his original state.

Zhenhua was stunned by the speed of transformation and exclaimed:
"Your disguise skills are quite impressive. Can you teach me and my guards?"

As the only master craftsman on the continent today, Zhenhua's influence cannot be underestimated. However, inconsistent with his identity, his strength can only be considered average among the Titled Douluo.

In front of a truly strong person, he could easily be in danger.

Therefore, the technique of disguise, which is used to hide one's identity, is very important to him.

It's not that he can't disguise himself, but he is far from being at Tang Wulin's level. If he can learn this disguise technique, his safety index will rise sharply.

Tang Wulin smiled and said:

"Of course, no problem. If you want, I can teach you now. And I might even start classes at Shrek Academy later. You can have your people come to the academy to study then."

Zhenhua waved his hand.

"Forget about it now. There is no need to rush. Let's talk about it later when you have time. If you really teach at Shrek Academy, let alone send my guards, I will go there myself to show my support."

Although Zhenhua was a master craftsman who had reached the pinnacle of forging, he was not as inflexible as the researchers Tang Wulin had met before. It would be better to say that he was actually quite good at dealing with people, and had good relations with the masters of all major forces on the continent.

He knew very well that this handsome young man in front of him could even ignore the wishes of Amorous Douluo Zang Xin and kill him instantly if he wanted to. He was one of the people Zhenhua least wanted to mess with.

Therefore, before Tang Wulin came, he had actually made up his mind that he would teach him everything he knew.

As the deputy leader of the Tang Sect, Zang Xin's reaction was somewhat different from his.

"Wulin, have you decided to go to Shrek Academy?"

Although the Tang Sect and Shrek Academy are basically as close as family, Zang Xin still hopes that Tang Wulin will come to the Tang Sect if possible. After all, no one would complain about having too many top fighters in their own forces. Shrek Academy already has Yun Ming, so the demand is actually much lower than that of the Tang Sect.

Tang Wulin smiled and shook his head. "No, this is just my plan. After all, I will learn something from the academy in the future, so I also want to share what I know with you. This is fair, isn't it?"

Ten years later, Tang Wulin and Huo Yutong will leave this world and return to ten thousand years ago, and they will most likely never come back.

Tang Wulin is not a person who would not repay a favor. He does not want to accept benefits from others and then walk away after ten years without giving anything in return. Therefore, he has already discussed with Huo Yutong that while these top forces teach them future knowledge, the two of them will also do their best to repay them.

His answer was beyond Zang Xin's expectations. His eyes changed and he sighed.

"I didn't expect you to think this way. Even if you don't do this, you will still get the same benefits."

"I see."

Anyway, Tang Wulin didn't decide to do this just to gain more benefits.

Zang Xin smiled with emotion.

"I understand why you can win the favor of Lingbing Douluo... Never mind, you guys study first, I won't bother you anymore, I'm leaving now."

"See you."

After watching Zang Xin walk out of the room, Tang Wulin and Zhenhua were the only ones left in the room.

Zhenhua sat down again in the place where he had just sat, pointed to the seat across the table, and said to Tang Wulin cordially:

"You take a seat first, too."

Tang Wulin obediently pulled out the chair and sat down, then asked curiously:

"Sir, don't you want to see how I forge it?"

In theory, forging is a skill that places great emphasis on hands-on practice. Generally, before teaching an apprentice, one would watch the apprentice forging by hand.

However, Zhenhua shook his head and smiled:
"We'll talk about this later. Your situation is quite different."

He had already heard from Zang Xin about Tang Wulin's general situation in the field of forging.

Tang Wulin is only nineteen years old this year, but he has been stuck in the realm of a level five blacksmith for nearly five years, which means that he had almost become a level five blacksmith when he was fourteen.

This talent was obviously extremely amazing. Even Zhenhua was only a level five blacksmith at the age of fourteen, but at that time he was recognized as the number one genius in the Blacksmith Association.

Tang Wulin traveled back ten thousand years ago at the age of nine, but still achieved the same level of achievements as Zhenhua without the guidance of a teacher. This means that Tang Wulin's talent in forging is likely to be above that of Zhenhua.

And now Tang Wulin is already a level five blacksmith with a spiritual forging success rate close to 100%. Obviously, it's not that he doesn't have the ability to advance to a level six blacksmith, he simply hasn't found the right way. With just a little guidance, it would be easy for him to advance to a level six blacksmith.

You should know that Zhenhua became a sixth-level blacksmith at the age of eighteen without a lack of resources and teachers. He also set the highest record in the Blacksmith Association in one fell swoop.

Therefore, rather than watching Tang Wulin forging, he would rather teach Tang Wulin the difference between a level six blacksmith and the previous blacksmiths.

Zhenhua asked:

"Do you know what the biggest difference is between a Grandmaster Blacksmith and a previous one after reaching the Spiritual Forging level?"

Tang Wulin answered subconsciously:
"Can I spiritually forge?"

"Yes, but also not right."

Zhenhua smiled and said:
"Before spiritual forging, blacksmiths just follow the routine, which can be said to be just a skilled worker. When they reach the spiritual forging level, blacksmiths truly possess their own spirituality, and how to bring out this spirituality is the most important thing for blacksmiths."

Having said this, he paused for a moment, and seeing that Tang Wulin could follow his story, he continued:

"The biggest difference between a level 5 blacksmith and level 4 is that what you will forge next will no longer be a single metal, but an alloy."

"alloy?"

Hearing these two words, Tang Wulin's heart trembled slightly, and he vaguely grasped something.

"Yes."

Zhenhua knocked on the table lightly and asked:

"You are now a skilled fifth-level blacksmith. Let me ask you, when performing spirit forging, which is the most difficult step?"

Tang Wulin said without hesitation:
"It is a process of giving life. The metal itself gradually develops spirituality during the forging process. When the spirituality accumulates to a certain level, the metal itself has the basis for qualitative change. At this time, we, the forgers, use our own vitality to awaken its spirituality and truly give the metal vitality, thus completing the spiritual forging. After all, metal originally has no life, so the degree of spiritual awakening is very important for whether the spiritual forging can be completed."

Zhenhua nodded approvingly.

"Yes, your analysis is correct. Do you know that the reason why it is difficult to awaken life in metals is related to their own quality? The better the metal, the greater the possibility of being spiritually forged. Creating life is an extremely sacred thing in the entire universe. When life is created, it will produce a kind of energy that we cannot fully perceive. This energy is almost inaudible to us, but for those objects that have no vitality, it is extremely huge. If the object is accepted and completed, it will become a living body, but if it cannot withstand this special energy, then the object will be damaged. This is also the reason why rare metals will be lost if spiritual forging fails. We call this special energy the creation energy, which means creating life."

"..."

Tang Wulin listened to Zhenhua's story in silence.

It turned out that Zhenhua’s lectures did have a great impact on him.

Before, he was just feeling his way forward on his own, completely ignorant of theoretical knowledge, and could only make continuous trial and error. As a result, he hadn't made any qualitative breakthroughs in five years, and had been stuck at the level of a fifth-level blacksmith.

And now, after just a little guidance from Zhenhua, he felt as if the clouds had been cleared and the sun had appeared. He benefited a lot and felt that a bright road was slowly unfolding before him.

Zhenhua continued:

"In order to improve the success rate of spiritual forging, after countless generations of blacksmiths' experiments, we have found another method, which is to increase the strength of the metal itself and its ability to withstand the energy of creation. This method is called forging alloys."

"The so-called alloy, as the name suggests, is to fuse different metals together in a certain proportion. Alloys are widely used in mechas, but that alloy is different from the alloys our blacksmiths are talking about. The alloys that fuse metals are generally burned at high temperatures to make different metals liquid, and then fused and adjusted according to the proportions to finally form a shape. Some chemical elements may also be used to assist its success. The alloys our blacksmiths are talking about are completely the process of using the forging hammer in their hands to help the metals fuse."

"We also need to fuse different metals in proportion, but the whole process is only forging. The different metals are forged and fused into one, forming a uniform shape, so as to improve their quality and characteristics, and finally complete the spiritual forging, or even the higher level of soul forging in the future. The moment a piece of metal is spiritually forged and formed, the foundation for its future development is determined."

"And what I want to teach you today is how to forge alloys. This forging method is called melt forging."

"When you are able to perform six or more two-melting alloy forgings and three or more three-melting alloy forgings with a high success rate, it means that you have officially entered the realm of a sixth-level blacksmith."

Having said this, he paused and cast a questioning look at Tang Wulin, as if asking him if he understood.

Tang Wulin let out a long sigh, nodded heavily, and asked eagerly:

"I see. Can I try it now?"

Zhenhua hasn't taught him how to perform the fusion forging yet, but just from what he has said so far, he already feels that his inspiration is gushing out.

He is now eager to implement the ideas in his mind and try to see if he can make further progress in the field of forging.

Zhenhua opened his eyes wide in surprise, then he smiled with relief, stood up and said:

"Of course no problem, just wait a moment."

The most important thing for a blacksmith is not to be afraid of failure, to dare to try and to dare to practice. In Tang Wulin's case, whether this is a success or a failure for the first time, it is destined to become a valuable experience and will be of great benefit to his future development.

Looking at the excitement in Tang Wulin's eyes, Zhenhua found that he liked this young man more and more, and his feelings towards Tang Wulin gradually changed from awe of a strong man to a proud student.

Taking out the rare metals from the cabinet and placing them on the table, Zhenhua made a "please" gesture to Tang Wulin.

"Come on, didn't you just ask me why I didn't let you demonstrate your forging skills? It's time to show your strength. Let me see with my own eyes the extent of your understanding of forging."

Digression
I will resume normal updates today. I owe 18,000 words now, and I will pay it off as soon as possible.
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(End of this chapter)